6:31. thanks for joining us, i'm megan pringle. >> i'm jamie costello. it's bad out there. justin berk now with the latest. >> good morning to you, this is a busy morning here, we have a lot of stuff to talk about, we'll talk about the immediate area and get to the tornado warning to our south, may have an impact on anne arundel county. not under a tornado warning now. they may be shortly. we're watching a strong, strong storm. the remains of what was once a hurricane, i'm sorry, tropical storm nicole, it's going to feel like a tropical system here with winds gusting to 45 miles per hour. we have a wind advisory, we have heavy rainfall expected, uh, on average, probably between 2 to 5 inches, even higher amounts likely. and in between, the possibility of some tornados. i had one report from one of our weather watches on the eastern shore, they had lightning extended, which isn't common with a tropical system. we have a tornado watch until 1:00 p.m., all the orange-shaded

counties in maryland which include carol, baltimore, harford, cecil, down through howard, anne arundel, and off towards the eastern shore. those pink counties to our south, calvert and st. mary's. that's a tornado warning, extending through 7:00. because of doppler radar-indicated rotation, which is the first sign that something may drop from the clouds, a funnel cloud and touch the ground. nothing has been confirmed on the ground as of yet. pushing to the north at 40 miles per hour. so this thing is racing to the north. next one on the list could very well be anne arundel county. we're watching it right now. we could take it in closer, you can see what appears to be circulation around the orange shading near chesapeake beach and through eagle harbor. we'll watch that area head up towards the north at nearly 40 miles per hour. really a deal, you may be dealing with this shortly. shady side and annapolis. it's just heavy rain. we'll watch this storm, could race to your location, you could be next on the list. right now, look at rainfall,

annapolis, over two inches. edgemere, 2.63 inches and anywhere from an inch and a half to over two inches of rain in most locations. flooding already an issue this morning. storm drains are having a hard time handling all this water running down. we'll have to deal with periods of rain through the afternoon and into the evening. in all honesty, it's going to get worse before it gets better. let's see what's happening on the roads. they're already bad enough. >> in addition to accidents, we have several roads closed and flooding. not the morning really to be trying to hurry and go anywhere, just not going to happen. outer loop, liberty road, pretty much traffic is stopped. we had an earlier crash at wilkins, cleared out of the travel portion, it continues to block both shoulders, perhaps rubbernecking going on there, in addition to volume on top of the rains and the reduced visibility. as we look at our maps, this is what we have going on.

incident in gambrelsfk because of high flooding water there. ebenezer road, high water reported to be as high as two feet in some places. martin boulevard closed because of high water. we have reports of a vehicle fire, 95 southbound, approaching exit 74. expect it to be a slow ride on the 95 corridor. east cold spring lane, loch raven boulevard. we're still working an accident on the top side of the outer loop, headed towards the jfx earlier crash from before 5:00 in the morning, reported to involve a police cruiser. flooding a problem on patapsco avenue, we know how that goes on 895, standard operating procedure. liberty road, spun out vehicle off to the left shoulder on the outer loop, 795.

this has pretty much been the big crash of the morning, 70 eastbound closed at route 29 because of an overturned tractor-trailer. they hope to have this reopened by perhaps 8:00 in the morning, but really that means no access to the beltway from the point of this crash. all the traffic being diverted onto route 29 southbound, a lot of heavy volume on 40 eastbound as well, expect it to be a slow ride towards the beltway. jamie, back to you. other news of the day: we have breaking news here. tony kurtis passed away last night. appeared in such movies like some like it hot, operation petticoat and spartacus. he was 85 years old. in other news this morning: a body recovered from the waters off of new york city is believed to be that of a rucker student

who went missing last week after a sex tape featuring him was posted online. his roommate sent a video of him live to the internet and tweeted about it. students this morning are stunned. >> it is kind of scary a little bit, knowing that your face and personal privacy could be invaded and could be accessed by millions of people. >> police have arrested darun robby and a friend for transmitting the sexual images without consent. yesterday a rally was held on campus for tyler clemente. federal prosecutors have released video of an fbi test that shows the potential damage that could have happened if the times square bomb plot if back in may had succeeded.

prosecutors say it would have been devastating. the bomb failed to go off during the actual may attack. the suspect was arrested some two days later. and in texas, a peewee football game turned into a big time brawl. coaches from both teams went after one another on the sidelines. it happened two weeks ago, now the home video has surfaced. you'll see one kid try to get in between two of the adults, try to get them to stop. all of the coaches involved were disciplined and in the end, the kids were the ones who were really going to suffer because the league has barred both teams from postseason play. all right: the rain will not go away any time soon. get ready for a lot of it. linda sow is live with the problem this storm is causing. >> reporter: what you see right now is what you'll get all day. winds will pick up. that'd going to mean trees, many trees will come down because of

the rain-soaked grounds. many of those trees will also bring down power lines and that's where many of the outages will occur. bge crews are on stand by. they're calling this a system-wide event. they're expecting thousands of power outages throughout the area. state's emergency operation center will be activated this morning. all this rain has people in annapolis also getting ready. they're putting out sand bags by the downtown docks. >> this actually may be a pain in the butt, but if it saves your carpet or stone or whatever you happen to have in your place, it's worth it. >> one thing to keep in mind, bge crews will not be able to start fixing the downed power lines until after the storm passes. they're asking people to be patient. if you find yourself in the dark, call bge to report the outage. 877-778-2222. we'll stay on top of the weather situation and bring you much

more after the break.

we have severe weather and the latest just into the storm center, a flash flood warning right now, including southern anne arundel county and most of the region around the district of columbia. we have a flash flood warning right now for southern anne arundel county. in addition to that, we have a tornado watch for the entire area. the potential of tornados, up until 1:00 this afternoon as we have a landfalling remnant tropical system affecting us all day long. in addition to that, current tornado warning extended through 7:00 for calvert county. st. mary's has dropped it. we're watching calvert county right now, with storms racing to the north at 40 miles per hour. you could see that in your chesapeake beach and deal. there's almost a little comma shape to the radar field there. i want to pause this and maybe just show you one thing here as we watch this with maryland's most powerful doppler radar.

i want to put something on here called a velocity-scope. this watches the wind field and wind direction at cloud level. one thing we look for is contrasting colors, which show winds moving away and towards the radar site. when you get them close together, that's where you have potential twisters, it looks like at least at cloud level, heading up towards mayo, there may be possible rotation in those clouds. that's the region we're particularly watching right now. even though it's not under anne arundel county, there may be a possibility of a tornado warning issued there as we watch this storm race to the north. all that water on the roads already causing problems. your traffic update now with kim brown. >> we do have road closures in anne arundel county, baltimore county and baltimore city because of the high water and

flooding. an accident has route 70 closed. a vehicle fire, 95 southbound, jappa roadblocking the two right lanes. 95 southbound will be at a crawl. stay with us, we'll have more news, weather and traffic when good morning maryland returns after this quick break.

6:47. this is your abc2 news to go. i'm megan pringle. >> i'm jamie costello. the big story is the weather. >> nasty out there. rain is expected to cause flooding in some areas today. we had a tornado warning and watch in parts of the state. >> i'm getting reports on the text messages, i'm getting it on doppler radar, i'm getting it from some of you on e-mail, we have a busy morning. check out the latest, what we've got here. a wind advisory until this afternoon and evening with winds pushing 45 miles per hour. a tornado watch until 1:00 in the afternoon. still watching the tornado warnings in calvert county through 7:00 a.m. and that may extend to the north with storms

racing to the north. the forward speed at 40 miles per hour. flash flood warning just issued. that includes all of central maryland, including baltimore county, heavy rain and harford county through 12:30. rainfall, upping our total expectation between 3 and 6 inches, already had flooding on the roads. no doubt that will continue. heavy rain pushing into anne arundel county. severe weather towards the south. along the bay shore. don't want to leave you out on 95, extremely heavy rain in the deep red shading up towards perriman, havre de grace. we'll have more on the extended forecast in just a bit. more the flooding and roads with kim brown. >> in that same area, we have a tractor-trailer fire, southbound 95, now reported to be more towards uh, past mountain road. that's blocking the two right lanes and traffic backs up to emmerton road this morning. we have flooding in lots of different places, anne arundel,

county, route 50, gambrles closed. in baltimore county, eastern boulevard, martin boulevard, closed in both directions because of flooding. middle river, pulaski highway, ebenezer road, as much as two feet of standing water in the roadway. take your time, do not drive through high standing water. megan and jamie, back to you. 6:49 right now. get out your rain gear, we're in for a soaker today. we'll be dealing with a lot of power outages as well. linda sow is live to tell us more. linda? >> there's no getting around it. all this rain means there'll be many problems today. part of the problems will deal with power outages. when the rain, when the ground gets soaked with so much rain, many trees come down. a lot of those trees bring down power lines. that's where outages occur. in annapolis, people are getting ready for flooding, putting out sand bags by the downtown docks. the biggest concern comes at high tide, as the storm blows in

from the east, pushes water in from the city. the state's emergency operation center will be activated this morning. bge is expecting thousands of outages in the area. they have crews and equipment on standby. >> we have line of sight on so the of state crews. we're doing everything we can to prepare. mother nature will make her presence known and we'll deal with it. >> reporter: bge crews can't start repairing the downed power lines until after the storm passes. if you have to report an outage, call 877-778-2222. live in towson, linda sow, abc2 news. the annapolis dam is determined unsafe. many hope it can handle the significant rain we're expecting. state inspectors sent the city a letter stating that failure of the dam off route 450 could result in massive flooding.

workers have released water from the dam to prevent possible failure. >> there's erosion, sort of underground erosion between the earth right next to where the dam is and they're just worried about long-term break down. but to be clear, there's no imminent threat of a major break down right now. >> repairs are planned for later this year and staff will monitor the water levels. it is 6:51. stay with abc2 news for all the latest coverage on the weather. we have everything except a dash of old bay in this forecast. we'll have the latest on power outages and flooding. head to our website at abc2news.com. all right: closing arguments are expected today in the ken harris measured trial. jerome williams, charles mcganey and gary collins all accused of killing the former city councilman two years ago. he was shot to death in his car parked outside the new haven lounge in northeast baltimore. today the casino in perryville will have its grand

opening. the 35,000 square foot slots parlor in cecil county has 1500 slot machines, two restaurants all set in hollywood movie-themed backdrops. the mayor among others will be on hand for a ribbon-cutting ceremony today. in democracy 2010: the race for maryland's next governor, the man currently holding the job has a big name backing him. michael bloomberg will endorse governor martin o'malley in his election race. mr. bloomberg's endorsement will be announced today. the maryland green party has nominated kenneth henry to replace her daughter on the ballot for the party in the race for state senator. pedigroo died after she was hit

by a car in howard county. well today after you eat dinner, head to the cold stone creamery for a free sunday. >> any time there's something free, we'll tell you about it. >> 11-year-old kate created a special sunday for make a wish foundation. three ounce samples are being given out today at cold stone creamery. runs from 5:00 tonight until 8:00. >> katie's creations consist of caramel apple ice cream mix with chocolate shavings, graham cracker crust and pie filling. we'll show you the list of participating locations near your home. all right, justin. >> all right, take your pick. we've got it. tornado watch until 1:00. wind advisory for gusts to 45 miles per hour and now we add to

the mix, a flash flood warning as we will continue to watch all of central maryland, including now baltimore, harford county, we've seen over two inches of rain already, heavy rain still pushing its way through eastern harford county, up 95, heading through aberdeen. you have to continue to watch the water, may be draining down, the susquehanna itself and water rolling up the bay. we'll show you high tides in a moment. let's get to it. all this heavy rain, knot across east sections of harford county towards cecil county. around the shoreline of anne arundel county, the bay bridge, just along the periphery, within about 10 miles of the chesapeake on the eastern shore, missing it, salisbury to the beaches. look at the rainfall amounts already, aberdeen almost two inches, almost three inches in edgemere. 2.79 in annapolis now. 2.40. it's all part of this system broken into a few pieces. remnants of nicole wrapping around a cold pool of air in the

jetstream. pushing this stuff our way. with the storm surge from the south, strong winds and heavy rainfall, we have possibility of flooding up the chesapeake bay. high tides, fort mchenry. just before noon this morning. just after midnight tonight. tides running two to three feet above normal. rainfall today, the possibility now, i'm expecting 3 to 6 inches. we have the possibility of tornados, winds gusting to 45 miles per hour. any time through this evening. let's check on the roads right now, here's kim brown. >> justin, traffic is going to be jammed pretty much anywhere you can expect around 695 this morning. just because of heavy volume and residual delays from earlier accidents that have since been cleared. here we are on the west side of the outer loop, pretty much at a crawl as you approach liberty road. about an 11-minute delay between 795 towards edmundson avenue. several things we have working, anne arundel county, gambrles. flooding blocking two lanes on

50 westbound at bay dale drive. the big crash so far this morning, i-70 corridor, has the eastbound lanes closed at route 29 because of an earlier overturned tractor-trailer. they hope to have that reopened by 8:00 a.m. in the meantime, that means there is no access to the beltway from eastbound i-70. all the traffic diverted onto southbound route 29. 40 westbound as well. expect major delays, a crash just reported 95 southbound at 195. >> it's a mess out there, please be careful. remember to check on abc2news.com. >> weather and traffic all morning.

two governors, two different approaches. even in good times bob ehrlich did not make education a priority. he increased college tuition by 40%, cut school construction by $200 million, and ehrlich voted to eliminate the department of education while serving in congress. but martin o'malley, even in the toughest of times, has made record investments in public schools, new school construction, and o'malley froze college tuition four years in a row. with martin o'malley, our children always come first.

i'm frank kratovil and i approve this message. the real andy harris. buried in his website - a promise to replace the tax code with a 23% sales tax and eliminate the mortgage interest deduction. a bush tax panel said families would pay $6,000 more a year. a reagan tax advisor calls it a very dumb idea. but that's not his only bad idea. harris was the only senator to vote against expanding the child care tax credit and against the state's cancer treatment program. andy harris' extreme ideas will cost us. good morning, america. i'm robin roberts. >> and i'm george stephanopoulos. it's thursday, september 3